Entries tagged with: Lil B

The Pitchfork Music Festival happens this weekend in Chicago (7/17-7/19), featuring performances from Wilco, Sleater-Kinney, Chance the Rapper, Future Islands, The New Pornographers, Run the Jewels, Caribou, Panda Bear, Todd Terje & the Olsens, Mac Demarco, Kurt Vile and loads more. BrooklynVegan will be there, so stay tuned for coverage and photos. If you can't make it, Pitchfork will also be streaming it live.

As usual, the fun continues later each night with a plethora of aftershows, both official and unofficial. There's something for every type of fan, with shows from Parquet Courts, Viet Cong, ILoveMakonnen, Jessica Pratt, Ariel Pink, Ex Hex How to Dress Well, Protomartyr and more. A guide to the night time action, below...

Scheduled to take the main stage on Friday night immediately before AC/DC, Australian psych-rock outfit Tame Impala were given a festival opportunity that a lot of other bands would kill for. Kevin Parker and co. didn't waste it: unfurling an hour of knee-buckling rock tunes and trippy visuals, Tame Impala made a lot of other guitar-based bands at Coachella look unpolished by comparison. Lonerism gems like "Elephant" and "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" soared, but it was the new eight-minute jam "Let It Happen" that caused the most flower crowns in the audience to bop up and down. From the sound of their newest tunes, Tame Impala keep getting better -- as a studio act and also as a legitimate festival draw. - [Billboard]

Weekend one of Coachella 2015 is in the books, and they're getting ready to do it all again this weekend. Friday's kickoff (4/10) featured a wide variety of acts, including rock greats and headliners AC/DC, plus Tame Impala, Action Bronson, The War on Drugs Lykke Li, Azealia Banks, Sylvan Esso, a self-described "slammin'" set from Steely Dan, reformed shogazers Ride, Ohio indie rockers Cloud Nothings, the US live debut of Todd Terje & the Olsens, and much more. Pictures from all of those acts (except Todd, who we missed) and more are in this post.

Update: Day 2 pics HERE. Day 3 pics HERE. Check out more day 1 pics below...

In other exciting NYC vegan food news, popular Manhattan restaurant Dirt Candy reopened in a new and bigger spot. Check them out now at 86 Allen Street (corner of Broome and Allen). Reservations are a must.

Meanwhile, Beyonce, who you might remember "went vegan for a bit" in 2013 with husband Jay-Z, is now a spokesperson for the vegan diet program she tried, and its new home delivery service:

The home delivery service was born out of a demand from Borges' friends, colleagues and clients who enjoyed his delicious meals that were naturally low in fat, sugar and salt and filled with flavor from whole-foods such as vegetables, beans, grains, herbs and spices. The home delivery program takes away all the guesswork and makes it easy to adopt the plan.

"I am so grateful that I took the challenge and credit Marco with leading by example," says Beyonce. "He is the most energetic person I know and it's all because of his decision to live a healthy lifestyle. He came up with a great program to get people motivated to make better nutritional choices. All you have to do is try. If I can do it, anyone can. I am excited to partner with him."

The longtime fitness expert, who has been a leader in the field for over 20 years, says it's really not about asking everyone to become a vegan but rather to make simple healthier food choices so they can live a more energetic and productive life.

"I am humbled by this incredible partnership and excited to share the many benefits of a whole-foods plant-based diet," says Borges.

Lil B also recently teamed up with a vegan food company. As Fader reports:

Friend to humans and animals alike, Lil B, has met his match in the food world, a vegan company whose name is Follow Your Heart. Their first order of business together? Creating an emoji app, of course. (Because you can never have too many Lil B emoji apps.) The Based God's latest, dubbed vegEMOJI, consists of animal-friendly takes on Lil B sayings--like "Plant Based 4 Life," "Cool People Are Kind to Animals"--and a locator where you can find your local Follow Your Heart carrier.

The Eric Garner protests, like last weekend's Millions March, in NYC continue, and as you've probably seen and heard, many of those lending their voice to the cause are prominent musicians. Mos Def (aka Yasiin Bey), offered an audio statement called "Thoughts On The Upheaval From A Global Perspective" via Stop Being Famous, as Billboard points out. Here's some of what he said:

Where are we? We're at a critical time. We're at a watershed moment for humanity. The urgency to 'change this miserable condition on this earth,' as Malcolm X said, is occurring to many of us, reaffirming itself.

It's the opportunity for necessary change, positive change, and it's not necessarily convenient or comfortable as I'm sure it is with any period of growth. I read somewhere that in order for an arrow to fly, the bow has to be drawn back. There's some pressure involved and I think we're all feeling that pressure. Some of us are more aware of it than others. Some of us are trying to drown it out. But we all feel it one way or another, in indelible ways in these times and days.

The value of a man's life has been totally reduced. It has never been even put at the proper value, when it comes to a black man... But we have an old-school mentality of what you can do, as a cop, and how someone already considered a criminal, even when he's not committing a violent crime, or a real crime. Selling a cigarette is not really a crime, standing on the corner is not a real crime, at the end of the day.

But in this case, with Eric Garner, there is not a criminal here. This looks more like the ego and frustration of a man--forget that this guy was a cop. Take the uniform off. If you take the uniform off of those guys, it looks like a neighborhood beat down. It looked like a black guy got jumped by a bunch of white guys. It looks like this gang jumped that guy.

On Sunday (12/14), when Aretha Franklin attended the premiere of Selma (the film based on Martin Luther King and the 1965 civil rights marches of Selma, Alabama) in NYC, she was interviewed about how important she thinks a film like Selma is coming out at this time, and said:

I think that it's gonna bring a higher level of consciousness to everything that's happening, particularly between the movie and the Fergusons and all of the different happenings that we've had lately involving all of the young African American men. There is certainly a correlation between the two, the timing, and i think most importantly the timing. What was happening way back when and what is still happening now.

The Eric Garner case, other related tragedies, and the growing social movement around it also pushed D'Angelo to get his new album out as soon as he did (it was originally planned for 2015).

Meanwhile, money has been raised for Eric Garner's family via Fundly and Indie GoGo campaigns. Fundraisers, like the one Russell Simons was at, are becoming more common. Two happening in NYC just popped up today:

One is a show billed as "BLACK LIVES MATTER" happening on December 23 at SOB's. No artists announced at the moment, but tickets are on sale now.

The other is a noise show happening December 30 at Palisades with live sets from Nick Klein & Shredded Nerve, Miguel Alvarino, Appetite, Saran Man, Negation, Coil's Drew McDowall, Pure Matrix, POI, Bookworms and Young Male, as well as DJ sets from Analog Soul, Half Life and Pharmakon (aka Margaret Chardiet). That one's $12 at the door.

They may not really need the fundraisers in the end though, as the New York Timesreports that New York City comptroller Scott M. Stringer is also "seeking to negotiate a settlement of a $75 million civil rights claim brought my Mr. Garner's family."

Gorilla vs Bear posted their lists of their favorite albums (35) and songs (100) of 2014. Though the albums list does have some of the stuff you always see (like The War On Drugs), it's mostly got a lot of unique choices like Recycle Culture, Korallreven, Yumi Zouma, Beverly, Panda Bear's EP and more, and the #1 is pretty unique too. FKA twigs doesn't crack the albums list but she's on the tracks list twice, along with tracks by Tinashe, iLoveMakonnen, Jessica Pratt, Grouper, a Recyle Culture remix of Taylor Swift, and plenty of PC Music representation.

The FADER always has some year-end coverage, but for the past 15 years they didn't publish a ranked year-end list. This year however, they ranked their 116 favorite songs of 2014 (find out why) and it's a diverse list that manages to sing the praises of iLoveMakonnen, Tinashe, Alex G, Florida Georgia Line, Enrique Iglesias, Bleachers, Ricky Eat Acid, YG, Toni Braxton & Babyface, Nothing, Grimes, Parquet Courts, Run the Jewels and Grouper all in the same damn list.

After entering with a robed choir behind him, R. Kelly starts stringing together his hits, medley style. A verse, a chorus, and then on to the next. Songs about "getting freaky in the club," the kitchen, the car, wherever. Kelly was the subject of a years-long investigation over child-pornography charges, but was eventually acquitted in 2008. None of that appears to matter to anyone left in the park tonight, as one of the largest crowds in Pitchfork history flocks to check out the dominant R&B performer of the last two decades. The Union Park crowd reaction isn't quite as over-the-top as that of his typical audience, but the dancing continues to escalate until the set peaks with "When a Woman's Fed Up" and the stepping songs "Happy People" and "Step in the Name of Love," accompanied by white balloons. Kelly saves "I Believe I Can Fly" for the encore, and this time white-dove balloons fill the sky. [Chicago Tribune]

Pitchfork Music Festival 2013 wrapped up on Sunday (7/21) with its most hip hop heavy day, including sets from rappers El-P, Killer Mike, Lil B, and Tree, plus rap producers TNGHT and Evian Christ (who both happen to be Kanye collaborators). And not exactly rap, but in that real there were also sets from MIA and obscure up-and-comer R. Kelly. It wasn't all hip hop though. Sunday also gave us sets from Foxygen (whose singer, Sam France, continued his streak of climbing at festivals), Yo La Tengo, Waxahatchee, Autre Ne Veut, Glass Candy, and more. Pictures of the final day of the festival are in this post.

If you haven't been keeping up with our coverage of Pitchfork festival, day 1 pictures and review are HERE, and more pictures are HERE and HERE. Day 2 pictures and review are HERE and more pictures are HERE. Day 3 pictures continue below...

The Seaport Music Festival might be wrapping up today with a show from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, but that doesn't mean free shows at The Seaport (Pier 17) are done for the summer. This Saturday (6/29), the outdoor venue will host the Village Voice's annual free, all ages 4Knots Music Festival. The fest kicks off early in the afternoon (1 PM) and it will be over by 8, so you'll probably be able to catch any night shows you wanted to go to on Saturday too. It's the festival's third year and this time around they may have booked their most consistently great lineup.

The festival is being headlined by Kurt Vile, whose 2013 album, Wakin On A Pretty Daze, is one of the strongest releases of the year. The weather is looking a little iffy earlier in the day (fest is rain or shine by the way), but it looks like a good chance of sun by the time he's on, and there's not really any better way to see Kurt than outdoors on a pretty day.

Also, since we last spoke, Steve Gunn, who is also a member of Kurt Vile's live band, was added to the lineup. His new album, Time Off, is out now, and you can stream two tracks from that release below (via FADER).

If this is your first trip to the Seaport, directions are available at Village Voice's website. It's easy to get there by subway, bus, or car, and you can also valet park your bike. Once you're there, this festival map should be of use if you need it. And, leave your coolers and beach chairs at home. There's good food down there, too, with the Smorgasbar vendors on Front St (at Fulton).

All of that fun happens for free between 1 and 8 PM, and then, if you got tickets, you can keep partying at the sold-out afterparty at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Lil B, Clams Casino, and Keyboard Kid.

As mentioned, Chicago's Pitchfork Music Festival is returning to Union Park from July 19-21 with sets from Bjork, Joanna Newsom, Belle & Sebastian, R. Kelly, Solange, Rustie, Low, The Breeders, Swans, Savages, Merchandise, Julia Holter, KEN mode, White Lung, TNGHT, Evian Christ, Waxahatchee, El-P, Killer Mike, and more across three stages (Red, Blue, and Green). The set times for the festival have now been announced, and you can check out the full day-by-day schedule below.

This year's 4Knots Music Festival, which goes down on June 29 at at Pier 17 at South Street Seaport, is looking like its going to be one of the best free shows in NYC this summer. It runs from 1-8 PM across two stages, and during that time we'll get sets from Kurt Vile, The Men, Parquet Courts, Marnie Stern, Reigning Sound, White Lung, The Babies, Fat Tony, and Heliotropes. And now the lineup's got one more addition: local YYYs-inspired rockers Hunters. The new flyer is below. Show is all ages, and like we said, free.

As mentioned, Lil B is playing the not-free (and now sold out) 4Knots afterparty at Music Hall of Williamsburg (6/29) that night. And that lineup's been expanded now too, now including hip hop producers Clams Casino and Keyboard Kid. There are still a lot of second stage acts to be announced. Stay tuned.

A Based God is an individual that possesses maximum swagger, a mansion, sports cars, wonton soup and the inherent ability to fuck your bitch. Moreover, you will actually beg him to fuck your bitch simply because he is Based God. All these conditions must be met for an individual to be a Based God, though it is possible to have some and not all of these. Lil B will fuck your bitch, with or without your consent (which you will always give anyway).

Save the date, June 29. That night, all of New York will have to fulfill on the the promise of "you can can fuck my bitch" when the #based god Lil B comes to NYC as part of a 4Knots after-party. Look for Brooklyn's Wonton soup supply to run dry, its women to disappear, and for Music Hall of Williamsburg (6/29) to become swag to the maximum, tickets are on sale today (5/1) at noon. More acts to be announced.

Head below for some of Lil B's videos and his limited tour dates, which also include a stop at Pitchfork 2013. #ohmygodbasedgod #thankyoubasedgod

Brooklyn rapper Joey Bada$$ has announced the international "Beast Coast Tour" with fellow Beast Coast associates Flatbush Zombies and The Underachievers, which kicks off in Austin at SXSW and continues into early May. The tour hits NYC on April 20 at Gramercy Theater (note: the date has been announced as 4/21 in other places, but as you can see on Live Nation, the venue is hosting Paganfest USA that day) (UPDATE: The show has been moved to 4/18.)

Tickets for that show are not on sale yet, but you can check Ticketmaster for updates. You may remember that all three artists on the tour previously teamed up in NYC for a Red Bull Music Academy/Boiler Room show in October during Flying Lotus' NYC takeover.

Before SXSW, Joey's crew Pro Era is playing a NYC show billed as CJ Fly & Pro Era at Public Assembly on March 6 with Wordspit, Dyme-A-Duzin, and many others. Tickets for that show are on sale now. No official word on whether or not Joey will be there, but he hates when people say "Joey Bada$$ and Pro Era", so maybe the CJ Fly (another Pro Era member) billing is meant as a play on that? The flyer for this show is below.

When the tour ends, Joey has a few festival dates scheduled, including The Roots Picnic in Philly. All dates are listed below.

Joey Bada$$ has been dropping tracks and videos left and right lately. Back in January, he released his single for Mountain Dew's Green Label Sound, which was a collaboration with DJ Premier called "Unorthodox." Then he followed that with a video with Smoke DZA for "Gotham Fucking City" off DZA's K.O.N.Y. tape, a diss track aimed at Lil B (in response to Lil B's diss to him), and another video with Smoke DZA, which also features Big K.R.I.T., for "Underground Airplay" off the Ecko Unlimited mixtape of the same name. You can stream/watch all of those songs/videos below.

Meanwhile, The Underachievers just released the free Indiogism mixtape on Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder label. You can download the mixtape for free at DatPiff and stream it in its entirety below.

Kitty Pryde plans to release her followup to the haha im sorry EP this month with her new EP, D.A.I.S.Y. rage and she just revealed a teaser video for the EP which features the new song, "Dead Island." The video was directed/produced by Steamclam and you can watch it below. She's also been tweeting that her new mixtape will drop soon on Cocaine Blunts and she'll appear on the new Le1f mixtape, Fly Zone, which is due out on January 13.

Kitty Pryde has some upcoming appearances in NYC scheduled, including Lil B's panel discussion at 285 Kent on January 17, where she'll appear along with Travis Egedy aka Pictureplane, Alexandra Gamlin (Afro-Punk), and Russ Marshalek and Sophie Wiener (of Silent Drape Runners). Plus there will be Lil B-themed DJ sets by Pictureplane and Prince Rama.

A couple weeks after that, she'll return to 285 Kent for a live show on February 7 with Nina Sky (who you probably know best from their 2004 single, "Move Ya Body" and who released the free mixtape, Nicole & Natalie last year) and Chippy Nonstop. Tickets for that show are on sale now. She doesn't appear to have any other dates scheduled at the moment.

Hard to believe, but our BrooklynVegan "Blog Radio" show has been airing weekly on satellite radio for over 6.5 years. It started on Sirius which then merged with XM and became SiriusXM. The station, which was originally "Left of Center" on Sirius, is now called SiriusXMU (on SiriusXM). You can currently hear the two hour show on the "indie/college" station every Wednesday at noon EST and again at midnight that night (which is technically Thursday morning in Eastern Standard Time).

At some point years ago I brought on like-minded music lover Dominic (Nick) Masi to be my co-host, and to cover when I couldn't make it. Now, though I still may pop in occasionally (my New Year's resolution!), Nick has taken over completely, hosting the show week to week with a selection of music you'll find on BrooklynVegan.com and on his own iPod. Recently Nick also started hosting a show called "Cover Me" (all cover songs) on Bruce Springsteen's E Street Radio, and other programs on the network too.

In his spare time, Nick now tour manages members of Odd Future - a job which was an offshoot of his huge passion for hip hop (and traveling around the continent in a van).

What were Nick's favorite records and songs in 2012? We asked him and he gave us a list of his top 10 albums and "top 15 hip hop songs of the year that don't feature 2Chainz, Kanye, Drake, Rick Ross or (fill in the blank with your favorite rapper you've seen on every remix this year)."

You can check out both of Nick's lists, along with videos or streams for each song on his hip hop list (Odd Future songs included), below...

POP Montreal is returning to Montreal this year from September 19 - 23. The initial lineup was revealed and it includes Grizzly Bear, Gang Gang Dance, David Byrne, Tim Hecker, Julia Holter, I Break Horses, Hot Snakes, Dirty Three, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Cate Le Bon, Bertrand Burgulat (!), and more. The full initial lineup is listed below and many more announcements to come. Early Bird tickets are on sale until June 30, when regular sale begins.

Lil B has dropped another nugget of ridiculosity with "Ima Eat Her A$$". On YouTube he writes:

THIS IS A BASED FREESTYLE FOR THE WOMEN,
THIS IS VERY RARE THAT LIL B HAS SHOWN HIS FACE FOR THE PEOPLE TO SEE HIM,
PROTECT LIL B AND IF YOU LOVE LIL B TELL THE WORLD- Lil B

Check out the new video for the track below, alongside other recent videos from the prolific rapper for "Florida Girl", "Realist Bitch Alive" and the "KINDA WEIRD..BUT JOYUS" new video for "Ho S&*& My Dick".

The supremely eloquent MC will also speak at an NYU event on April 11th, tickets are $5 with NYU ID and $10 to the public. Make sure to get there to witness the "AMAZING HISTORICAL VERY POSITIVE FIRST LECTURE, PROGRESSION, 4 LIFE".

Keyboard Kid, like Clams Casino, has lent his beats to Lil B, Main Attrakionz, and Soulja Boy, among others. He has two shows in NYC TONIGHT (3/23). First he'll make his NYC debut at the New Museum at 7 PM with fellow Seattle artist Darwin. Tickets are available ($2 less for members). Then he and Darwin head over to Santos Party House at 11 PM for the official after party with a Hugs Reunion with Andrew Kuo and Josh Wildman. Tickets are $5 before midnight and $10 after.

Below you can listen to a mix that Keyboard Kid & Darwin put together to celebrate the trip. The mix contains "original productions, remixes and tunes they have been feeling as of late. The mix contains sounds ranging from the mystical melancholy of Keyboard's remix of Kid Smpl's 'On' to the early Acid House stylings of 666-RAVE."

Underground hip hop crew Sole & The Skyrider Band have but a few short hours before they welcome Hello Cruel World. Sole's first release since his split with Anticon (which he helped found), Hello Cruel World features guest shouts from Lil B and Pictureplane (who is on tour now), Sage Francis, and even Xiu Xiu on the new track "Napolean" which makes its MP3 premiere in this post. Download above. Stream it, along with the Lil B/Pictureplane track below.

Sole accompanied the release of the LP with a free mixtape which is available now. Nuclear Winter Volume 2: Death Panel follows the path of its predecessor by seing Tim Holland drop rhymes over modern day beats from Dipset, Clipse, Lil Wayne, and even Salem, James Blake, and Katy Perry. Download that for free above.

Look for Sole on the road in the West Coast in the coming month. All dates, as well as streams of both new songs and the cover art and full LP tracklist, below.

If you think that the ascendance of Kreayshawn is a bit of enigma, you aren't alone. After posting a video for the now banned "Gucci Gucci" to Youtube (due to terms violation) on 5/18, within five days the video had logged 600k hits. Soon after, it started to get surreal:

Though she has only performed live six times and has one official mix tape out, she recently signed a $1 million contract with Columbia Records and is making famous friends quickly. "Snoop hit me up on Twitter," she explained. "He was like, 'Yo, DM [direct message] me. I really love your song.' So we met up, hung out and recorded a song with my sister, V-Nasty." Other fans include Diddy and, puzzlingly, MTV comedian Andy Milonakis...

A recent LA Weekly article described Kreayshawn's style: "If [Lady] Gaga is the coolly elegant Madonna from 'Vogue,' Kreayshawn is the gritty downtown Madonna with a girl posse from 'Borderline.' " -[The Daily]

Kreayshawn and her creatively-named crew the White Girl Mob (DJ L1l D3bb and V-Nasty), may also be benefitting from their own liberal use of the n-bomb:

OCWeekly: A lot of people have been criticizing your girl and White Girl Mob crew member Lil Debbie for her use of the N-word. How do you feel abut that word and the use of it in music?

Personally in my songs I don't use it at all. If I'm freestyling and I said it, that's just for that point in time. Any songs I'm writing I don't use it. But like I said in Oakland, Asian people will call Mexicans that. A Mexican will call a black dude that. A white person will call an Asian that. Everyone calls each other that. I feel like that word is used in the low income community more than anything. I can see if I was some rich crazy trick and I was just saying this because it's hip-hop. No, I was raised around this. Me and my sisters were all raised around this. People call me that. But personally I'm not flaunting it around. I don't say it in my music because of how, if I'm putting myself out there to the world there are going to be a lot of people who don't like it.

Regardless of the why, Kreayshawn is currently moving toward the interweb MC celebri-status of Lil B (who she knows and has shot videos for) . Though:

Lil B took time to speak to Billboard.com's The Juice on Kreayshawn and her success. "When you're an artist you get what you deserve," Lil B says. "I'm happy that she's working for her dreams and following the world I have created. She's definitely talented and we will see what's in store for the future. But it's all about Lil B and the Based God."

Her upcoming projects include filming a video for Red Hot Chili Peppers, and taking her live performance count into the double digits with a few new US dates in major cities including a NYC show on August 18th at Highline Ballroom. Tickets are still available (the Lil B and Odd Future shows at the same venue sold out a bit quicker) (yes, she's associated with Odd Future too).

She'll also be back east in September to play Philadelphia's POPPPED Music Festival that the Shins, Girl Talk, Panda Bear, The Hold Steady, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Titus Andronicus, Cults, The Vaccines, Foster the People, Rakim and many others are also playing. Tickets are on sale.

All tour dates, and the infamous "Gucci Gucci" video are below. Snag another new song, "Rich Whores" at her website.

Mike Volpe aka Clams Casino released an instrumental mixtape in March, largely made up of beats he produced for Lil B and Soulja Boy. He'll follow that up with his first collection of exclusively instrumental material, Rainforest EP on June 27 via Tri Angle. The EP is available for pre-order on Tri Angle's website and is streaming now below. You can also watch the video for the EP track "Gorilla" below and grab the MP3 above.

A brand new hip hop mix he made for FACT Magazine can also be downloaded above, and streamed below.

Clams Casino doesn't make it easy to figure out where he'll be performing live, and he doesn't seem to do so that often, but he actually was in Brooklyn on Sunday. He and DJ Neon Indian were added very last minute as surprise guests to the Northside dance party hapening at Cameo (Wise Blood, Creep, etc were on the announed lineup). I don't think anyone actually knew though (not to mention it was a Sunday). IGIF tweeted, "cameo is empty for clams casino, dude doesn't seem too into it, speakers sound blown out... but overall sounds hot." The circumstanes should be much better when Clams plays a PS1 Warm Up event on August 13 with Black Dice, His Name Is Alive (DJ set), and Tri Angle labelmates oOoOO, Ayshay, and Water Borders. It's his only announced date at the moment (that we know of).